FAILING HEARTS at Living ArtSpace  and ON THE LINE

JANUARY  8- 29
EXHIBITS: by Joel Armstrong and Neil Ward  at Liggett Studio  
Two fascinating new installations by two Arkansas Artists.  The Artists will be giving a Talk about their work at 6:30pm on Jan. 8th.

For two artists to come together in collaboration, the obvious challenge is compatibility.  This collaboration represents these two artists’ reaching toward the similarities in their work and ethos – it is visibility of their compatibility.

On the Line and Failing Hearts are installations of lost time and rusted memories.  The clothes are made of rusted wire, hung on rusted clotheslines; drawn and hollow images of a family that had passed in the business of a father drawn to his work and passions.  The audience is invited to participate in the work, to walk through the clothes and lines, feel the grass beneath the clothes and experience a backyard…forgotten.  The easy rhythm of a sprinkler, chirping birds, the sound of a lawnmower, etc. play over speakers in the background and provide a “real” environment to experience and remember.  We ascribe meaning to what we experinence—childhood memories of playing catch, the smell of laundry soap, last Saturday’s fresh cut grass. The backyard is framed by eyes, meticulously arranged on rusted shelves at their own level—eye level.

Joel Armstrong

Neil Ward